Retreat for Political Prisoners

The head of Dapamoga talks about preparing a retreat in the Canary Islands for women who are former political prisoners, and about how the idea for this initiative was born.

"My husband and I have been traveling to the Canary Islands for a long time. We first discovered them during a difficult period — when we had serious health problems. It was then that we saw with our own eyes how health can miraculously recover in this place.

In the autumn of 2022, a close friend from Ukraine joined us — a highly qualified professional psychologist. It was after the bombings, after destroyed homes and the enormous human suffering she had witnessed firsthand. I remember well the state that came over her there, on the islands. That was the first time I had the idea — to someday organize retreats in the Canaries.

At first, honestly, I thought of it as a possible business project. But gradually a different understanding came: this could become a much-needed humanitarian initiative.

If you can find roughly 10,000–20,000 euros a month, you can take former political prisoners on retreat — with their families, with children, or individually. Because these trips are not just a holiday. A sanatorium heals the body. But here we are talking first and foremost about the soul.

This became especially clear in 2025, when deported political prisoners began arriving in Lithuania. The Dapamoga volunteer team saw their enormous stress from the unprepared relocation and how people continued to break down even six months or a year into life in Europe.

During my trip to the Canaries at the end of last year, everything seemed to fall into place. On one of the islands, I met the owner of a large and beautiful house. When I saw this place — with a view of the ocean and mountains, with the purest air and a wooden sauna — I realized that this could be a continuation of the story of care that Dapamoga has been creating for more than five years.

Of course, we cannot afford to rent this house every month. But thanks to the owner's sympathy for Belarusians, we managed to negotiate special terms. If about 20 people stay in the house, the cost of living per month is approximately 250–300 euros per person. This makes the project realistic.

The first pilot group of this project will be a group of women — former political prisoners. They will travel to the Canary Islands in April to have the opportunity to rest, regain strength, and simply be in a safe and peaceful space after everything they have been through.

We very much hope that this first experience will be successful and will allow us to organize such trips regularly in the future — so that more and more people who have been through prisons and repression can have time for recovery and return to life.

Today I ask you for financial support to make this initiative a reality.

Every contribution you make is a chance for a person who has survived prison, violence, and a broken life to once again feel support, peace, and the possibility of recovery."

We believe: with your help, this project will live on, because it is about love and support!